American Idol Recap – 3/25/09

As you can see, a couple of additions to the site since last week. The comments section still is not working, but we are getting around to that. It’s very frustrating on my end since everything else seems to be working. The banner for our newest sponsor who came aboard last week, “Hollywood Secrets”, is now fully functional. Had some glitches last week, but that has been corrected so check that out when you get a chance. Also, all the posts under “My Writings” are now working if you want to go back to past seasons and re-read some of my brilliance. As well as “Archived Columns”, which brings you back to the old site and some shows from four or five years ago. Still have some formatting issues to deal with, and working on a new banner for the site, but things are coming along. I will keep everyone updated as to when the merchandise will start.

As you can see under the “Hollywood Secrets” banner, I’ve put up a link regarding a non profit organization I’ve become involved with, CAP (Child Abuse Prevention). They’ve asked me to be a “celebrity” guest at their gala coming up Saturday night, April 18th in downtown Dallas. I know, I know. The last thing I consider myself is a “celebrity”. But if there is one thing good to come out of this column, it’s stuff like this. The people have been really great in explaining to me all about the event and their program, and I couldn’t be more excited to get involved. If anyone out there is interested in attending the event, feel free to click on the links provided below. If you can’t, check out their YourCause.com Campaign. Look, I don’t make a penny off anything regarding this event, so that’s not what it’s for. I just think it’s a great cause, and if you have the time, I encourage you to donate whatever you feel necessary. In these tough economic times, non-profit organizations need all the help they can get, so anything would be much appreciated.

I was also able to load Twitter onto the page now, so everyone can see all my ridiculous ramblings throughout the day. Yeah, Maddie is having bathroom problems again. Nothing to do with her bladder, her health has checked out fine, and she’s eating and drinking like she normally does. She just happens to use my carpet as her personal toilet whenever I leave for more than a couple hours or so, something she’s never really done before other than when I first got her. I don’t want to have to crate her when I leave since she hates that thing, but I guess that’s my only option at this point unless I want yellow carpet from now on. She obviously is lashing out at something since she can hold it in during the 6-8 hours we sleep at night. But when I leave for any extended period of time, it’s gotten to the point where I’d be surprised if she DIDN’T soil the place while I was out. Maybe she’s pissed because I haven’t made a YouTube video recently and she wants to be back on camera. What a diva. Anyway, let’s move on to last nights show.

Much better than Country week. At least I’d heard of all these songs. And we didn’t have to look at Alien Travis helping the kids out. Of course, who doesn’t like Smokey Robinson and his freaky blue eyes? He’s a legend. So in that aspect, I was all down for last night. Here’s the thing about being a mentor every week. Very few of them will actually criticize any of the singers. They all essentially say the same thing. “So-and-so sounded great. Loved their voice. I’m sure everyone will like it.” And that’s just not realistic. So was Smokey really being honest with us when he told us he enjoyed Megan’s version of “For Once in My Life”? I guess by masking it with, “She definitely has a unique voice”, that was his way of saying, “Uh oh. This is going to be a trainwreck.” I think it’s a cool experience for the kids to meet all these legends, and it’s something they’ll never forget, but when the legend tells you how much they liked your performance, then four judges tell you it sucked, who’s being honest here?

Matt Giraud, “Lets Get It On”: Another solid performance by him. Randy, Simon, and Seacrest were on Jay Leno the other night and basically said they thought a male would win and plugged Adam and Danny. Then last night you could tell by their comments they are trying to put Matt over as a potential finalist. Will Matt get a record deal? Absolutely. Is he one of the best singers on the show? Without a doubt. Will he get to the final two? I highly doubt it. But once again, does it really matter? We’ve seen plenty of people over the years who didn’t win go on to sell albums, so I don’t think he has much to worry about. I just look at him and I can’t pinpoint what exactly it is, but I just don’t see him winning it all.

Kris Allen, “How Sweet It Is”: Remember last week when I said Kris kinda looked like monchichi? I take that back. If Kris shaved his head, he’d be a smaller, scrawnier version of Chris Daughtry. Really take a good look at him next time. He’s got a little Daughtry in him. Not the voice, just the face. I couldn’t really focus on Kris’ performance last night because the whole time he was singing “How Sweet It Is”, I was thinking of “Oz” from “American Pie” singing it in the locker room when he had his hard on for Mena Suvari. So I apologize Kris. If you were any good, I missed it. Too busy thinking of “American Pie”, one of the greatest movies ever made. Cinematic brilliance I tell ya’. And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that Shannon Elizabeth nuded up for us in arguably one of the funniest “sex” scenes in recent memory. Ok, maybe it does.

Scott MacIntyre, “You Can’t Hurry Love”: I immediately thought him singing a Diana Ross song was going to be a little awkward and it was. Scott is a great story, and without a doubt is probably an inspiration to a lot of people, but his time on this show is slowly coming to an end. He’s just not as good as some of the other singers, period.

Megan Joy, “For Once in My Life”: You know you haven’t had a good night when Paula starts out her comments with, “You look beautiful” since that’s her back asswards way of trying to be nice. Let’s face it, Megan wasn’t good last night, and her “unique” voice isn’t enough at this stage anymore. However, if she still wants to prance around on stage in short mini skirts, be my guest. I have no complaints whatsoever. And I know last week I mentioned her never covering up her tattoo, but at this point, I don’t even care. I’ve basically become immune to it now. Does it really fit her personality? No. Is it ridiculously loud and out there? Yes. But I want to focus on the more important things Megan has to offer. Like her face. And her chest.

Anoop Desai, “Ooooh Baby Baby”: Funny thing is, I never knew that was the actual title of the song. I know it’s the main lyrics in the chorus but I never actually knew it was the title. Anoop kinda put me to sleep last night. I definitely think he’s proven he can sing, but there really wasn’t anything special about the performance. I don’t know if he has the ability to blow us off the stage. I believe only four people left have the ability to completely blow us away with a performance: Adam, Danny, Lil Rounds, and Matt. Anoop’s a good singer. Probably someone you could ask to sing at your wedding, but I don’t think he has star potential. Some label will probably sign him, he’ll put out one album that’ll get to maybe 50th on the Billboard charts, and then he’ll just do “Idol”-related stuff for the rest of his career.

Michael Sarver, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”: Hey, at least he admitted it wouldn’t be any good going in to it. There is nothing “Motown” about Michael Sarver. In fact, if his name was “Motown” Sarver, he still wouldn’t have fit in on this night. Here’s another guy who just isn’t nearly as good as some of the other singers, but I don’t think he cares. He knows he isn’t, he gets to go on tour and hang out with all his buddies. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never puts out an album. Just enjoy his time on the show, go on tour, then go back to his wife and kid. You notice the one thing that Michael does in every song he sings? He grinds his teeth. He’s half smiling, half mashing his teeth together when he sings. I don’t know what to make of that. I guess that’s his little quirk. And oh yeah, Kara gave him the weekly, “Who are you as an artist?” line last night. I get what she’s saying since that performance couldn’t have been any more karaoke if he tried, but she’s gotta stop saying that.

Lil Rounds, “Heat Wave”: Before she sang and they showed her video, Seacrest warned us it was an emotional week for Lil. I was thinking maybe someone in her family died, or maybe one of her kids got sick. Nope. She just got emotional because she got to visit Motown. Uhhh, ok. Kinda made a big deal out of nothing. The performance was just average. “Heat Wave” is a song I feel I’ve heard every season on this show, so if I hear it again, I want it to stand out from all the past performances, and it didn’t. “Heat Wave” is a karaoke song and nothing that will ever blow you away. So as much as people like to get on the judges always talking about song selection, they’re right most of the time. Look no further than that performance. Kara has also added a repetitive phrase to her arsenal that she gave to Lil last night. She starts out A LOT of her sentences with, “Here’s the thing”. I counted at least twice last night, and it might’ve been more. No worries. She’s still hot.

Adam Lambert, “Tracks of My Tears”: Not much else you can say about that one that hasn’t already been said. Easily the best performance of the night. He’s by far the most talented singer they have in the competition, but I still don’t think he’ll win. But last night was so far better than everyone else, it was laughable. When they talk about “Who are you as an artist?”, you know who Adam is. I still think he’s gonna have a performance this year that will go down as a Top 5 in the history of the show. Don’t know what week, don’t know what song, but it’s going to happen. You can just see it coming. With that said, I hated the look last night. You know why? Because I’m guessing for all the remaining weeks he’s in the competition, he’ll go back to his regular look. So I don’t get the point of showing us you can brush your hair, not wear nail polish, and not wear chains for a week. What we saw last night wasn’t Adam Lambert, so I didn’t really think the look added to anything. Kinda like when Ace Young dressed in a tux and pulled back his hair one week in Season 5. Totally wasn’t him. I think he actually ended up getting booted that week. Adam has no chance of getting booted this week, but my point is, because he dressed differently didn’t really add to the performance for me since I know that’s not him. If he were to change into that look for the rest of the competition and did a complete makeover, then it would mean more. But he won’t, and that’s fine. I just don’t get doing it for one week.

Danny Gokey, “Get Ready”: Huge Gokey fan as you know, and I didn’t really care for this performance at all. Especially when they show us the video of Smokey giving him advice that he never ended up using. Didn’t really get an explanation for why he basically told Smokey, “Yeah, thanks for the advice, but I’m gonna do my own thing.” I think Danny is better singing slow songs. He wasn’t terrible last night by any means, and I see he’s not trying to pigeonhole himself into just being a “ballad” guy, but that’s where he’s at his best. “Kiss From a Rose”, “Hero”, that’s where he kills it. These up tempo, dancing around stage songs don’t seem to fit him too well. He even looks uncomfortable doing it. I think he’ll go back to doing what he’s strongest in, but these last couple weeks have just been ok.

Allison Iraheta, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”: Still don’t get it. Can she sing for a 16 year old? Of course. But I think she appeals to such a small niche of fans that I just don’t see the star quality in her either. Plus, after about the first 30 seconds, I was tired so I fast forwarded through the rest of her performance. Oops. Sorry. I guess the judges loved it. Which is fine. I definitely think she’ll put out an album when this is all said and done, but I can guarantee you she’s an artist I will never download anything from. I think I’d download Megan’s “Rockin Robin” before I ever downloaded anything from Allison.

Reality Steve’s Top 3 Performances:

1. Adam Lambert
2. Matt Giraud
3. Kris Allen

Reality Steve’s Bottom 3 Peformances:

1. Michael Sarver
2. Megan Joy
3. Scott MacIntyre

Reality Steve’s Bottom 3 Prediction:

1. Michael Sarver
2. Megan Joy
3. Scott MacIntyre

Reality Steve’s Prediction of Who Will Get Eliminated: I think Michael Sarver goes home this week. I think this is probably one of the easier weeks to predict who will be in the bottom three. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t these three. But I think Michael goes home this week. And uhhhhhh, no, I don’t think the judges save him. Ha ha.

Have Simon and Paula been goofing around more this year than in seasons past? I mean, I know he makes fun of her every season, like he should, but this season seems to be even more over the top. Although, I do love it when Ryan asks her a question, she does her song and dance all around it because she doesn’t want to be honest, and Simon berates her ten times with, “Answer the question”. Might be annoying, might be condescending, but he’s dead on. She’s like a politician. If it’s going to be anything negative, she’ll find as many ways possible to not answer the question. It’s just seems like even during the performances, Simon and her are screwing around at the table moreso than in past seasons. And Paula dances waaaaaaaaay too much now. She’s up out of her seat on almost every single up tempo song. Go back to past seasons and you’ll see she never did it as much. It’s getting old. She’s getting old. She needs to go. Did you notice when Simon drew the mustache on her face last night and she was trying to wipe it off how much her hands were shaking? I think her medication was wearing off.

Back tomorrow with your “Reality Roundup” along with emails you’ve sent in the last week. Some good questions you guys have asked. Keep em’ coming. Any questions, comments, emails, praises, criticisms, inquiries about the CAP Celebrity Gala event on April 18th, feel free to email me at steve@realitysteve.com. See you tomorrow.